The main goal of building or buying a rental property is to get continuous passive income through rental income. That’s why you should make an effort to find new tenants. In addition, your cash flow and investment returns depend on your house’s occupancy level.
There are many ways out there to find new tenants, but what is among the cheapest ways? Well, this guide will show you simple ways to find new tenants, which are cheap too.
The tips discussed here have helped hundreds of landlords find new tenants in Kenya. So, keep reading to learn.
How to Find New Tenants
- Ensure your houses are super good in your area
One thing that sells products and services is quality. And that will apply to your rental houses. If your houses are of high quality, you’ll get tenants and may also have a 100% occupancy rate.
Ensure you do regular repairs so that your apartments are the best in the neighbourhood. People will move kilometers looking for standard houses with steady water and electricity. Therefore, always strive to provide clean water to your tenants, and you’ll never suffer from high vacancies.
Good houses will automatically sell themselves off. In addition, if someone doesn’t need a house at the moment, they can spread the news to their friends to move into your houses since they are the best in the area.
- Open business social media accounts
Social media is currently a big village with people from all over the blog. Businesses have thought of meeting their clients on social media, and it is working wonders for them.
You can still do the same for your rental business. All you need to do is open a business social media account and introduce your business to clients. The most used social media app is Facebook, with over 1.9 billion daily users globally.
When opening those accounts, customize them to where you are located. Remember that you’ll meet with people all over the globe, and the best way to get your preferred clients is by stating your location.
Take pictures of your apartments, both in and out, and post them on social media. Caption the images with phrases like houses to let, apartments to let, etc. Don’t forget to include the location and directions to your premises.
In addition, include a call-to-action button like a WhatsApp or Messenger button on Facebook. Fair enough, the interested tenants will contact you, and you can schedule a house viewing date and time with them. Once they like your apartments, you’ll have your new tenant through social media.
In addition, with social media, you can create ads to run on the accounts of people in your region. That will help you reach your target customer without much involvement in sharing your vacancy posts. It’s cheap to create these ads since Facebook costs you at least Ksh. 500 per week to run your ads. And it will be worth the price since you will get more profits if you get the right tenants.
- Advertisements through posters
This is somehow a traditional advertisement method since it doesn’t need the internet to reach clients. All you do is write on paper that you have vacant houses to let in a certain region. Add your phone number on the paper where people will contact you. In addition, don’t forget to add location and directions too. You can have the advert printed, or write it using a marker pen.
Once your copies are ready, you can start pinning them outside your apartment’s gate, electricity posts, and outside the shops in the area. However, with the shops, you should seek permission from the owner before pinning your posts.
Actually, this method is the cheapest, and it yields quick results. Most people searching for houses end up contacting numbers on those posters. So it’s an effective method if you don’t have much money to dispose of in doing advertisements.
- Word of mouth
Word of mouth is another inexpensive way to find new tenants for your rental business. After buying or building your mixed-use property, you can start by telling your close circle (friends, family, or colleagues) about it. If they need to relocate, they may first see your rentals, and if they look good, they will definitely stay.
Those who are not relocating can help you spread the news of your good apartments to their friends and family, and you may end up with your new tenants.in addition, the neighbours can also invite their friends to have a look at your apartments, and you can get a new tenant through that.
5 new ways to find tenants in Kenya
Word of mouth costs you no shilling when looking for new tenants in your region. All you need is good-looking apartments, and boom, tenants will flow in through referrals from your friends and family.
- Landlord and tenant networks
Most landlords in the same region are friends, and they regularly meet in town for a cup of coffee. Once you join these groups, you may get your first tenant from these guys. For instance, let’s say that someone was looking for a house on one of the landlord’s premises, but unfortunately, they were full. That landlord can refer you to their client and invite them over to view your houses.
Furthermore, tenants also have merry-go-round groups and chamas where they meet on a regular basis. You can join them if they don’t mind and you can show them your vacant apartments. If your houses are better than their current ones, they’ll come to you.
Summary
Investing in rental real estate is one thing and getting good and reliable tenants is the catch. You need to get good tenants if you want to get good cash flow and returns on investment.
In addition, once you get your tenants, ensure you treat them well by providing solutions to the in-house problems.
Treating your clients well ensures they don’t move, and your commercial real estate will always be full.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I get tenants faster?
The only sure way of getting tenants faster is by advertising your rental property on posters and by word of mouth. Kenyans are not that versed in buying online. They believe most online advertisements are scams, but you can try them since some believe in genuine sellers.
- How do I attract tenants into my apartments?
You can attract a typical Kenyan to your property through good, and highly maintained houses, a parking lot, a big compound where kids can play, a steady water supply, and the list is endless.
- How do I know a good tenant?
Ask your new tenants for contact information for their former landlords. Enquire about the tenant’s overall behaviour, including rent payments. A tenant with good credit reports can prove to be a good tenant.
- What should I ask my new tenants?
Ask your new tenants the following questions to ensure they are genuine.
- Why are they moving?
- When are they moving into your house?
- Their monthly income
- Do they have pets?
- How long have they stayed with their former landlord?
These questions will help you know the type of tenant you’ll be dealing with. You can do further research on the answers you receive from your tenant.
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